Preston Bailey loves to create a huge first impression.  He once designed elephants from lotus leaves and ten-foot lions from roses.  His ideas are elaborate and unique, but he doesn’t insist on having it his way.  After presenting concepts and options to the client, they are free to make a choice for their particular event. 

Preston loves doing tented events.  It provides a blank canvas to do his work and the imagination can run wild with ideas. His preferred venue for special events in New York is New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. His favorite flowers are orchids, peonies and roses. Bailey also loves to make containers for his flowers out of, what other than, flowers.

He is booking his clients one to two years in advance of their event but definitely would tell brides they need at least six months prior to their wedding date for floral and décor planning. For brides on a tighter budget, Preston suggests using square and long, rectangular banquet tables at the reception. With this table layout, a bride can stretch the floral budget easier because the florist can use a lot of candles and different styles of floral instead of just one centerpiece.

Preston has two pieces of sound advice for every bride. First, minimize surprises.  He believes the bride should not have any surprises on her wedding day so as to avoid disappointment. Second, once you hire your wedding vendors, let go. Trust them to do the job you have hired them to do. Walk away and let them work. Preston Bailey says that’s why “you hired a wedding planner;” to take care of the tasks, work with all of your vendors and take care of the details.

Preston Bailey’s books can be found on many aisles of your local bookstore and online. Design for Entertaining inspires those to create their own over the top statement at their event.  Fantasy Weddings has become the standard for anyone who loves to see dreams come true.  It features nine awesome weddings plus a chapter of signature details. Bailey has a new book called Inspirations; look for it in stores October 2006. Preston also established a partnership with the Sandals Resort in the Caribbean.  He designed four wedding collections for Sandals and Beaches Resorts for the bride and groom getting married in the Caribbean.



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"Behind the Scenes with Preston Bailey" As wedding professionals, we’re lucky to have some great people in this industry whose hard work, dedication and talent give us a world of inspiration. Preston Bailey is one of those inspiring professionals. Preston’s style for the dramatic, one of a kind event has definitely earned him the title of one of the world’s renowned event designers. He has been called a “floral genius” by the infamous TV host Oprah Winfrey.

Over the years, he has had the privilege to work with many famous people: Donald Trump, Matt Lauer, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Oprah Winfrey, Joan Rivers and Liza Minnelli to name a few. Preston Bailey has worked very hard to get to where he is today.

His work and love for color comes his heritage of Latin America being born in Panama. Preston Bailey tells people freely that he learned many things the hard way with little education but learned by doing. He worked in fashion in New York until some friends and mentors advised him to create floral arrangements for some of their clients. In the late 1980’s, he did his first wedding in New York. He started his entertainment and set design business in 1986. Now twenty years later, Preston Bailey Entertainment Design, is a well-organized business with three areas of work – Design, Drafting and Props. Preston designs and presents the job to the client, then it is turned over to the drafting department followed by the prop department.

Weddings are the ultimate events that clients (i.e. brides) fantasize about like no other event. Most weddings are about the ceremony and that is often forgotten.  Preston Bailey thinks there should be a sense of awe from the first moment the guests step into the room and he likes to concentrate on the ceremony. He wants to take the guests’ breath away when they enter the event space.  Whites and creams are his favorite color choice for the ceremony. And then he loves to flood the reception area with color, and lots of it. Preston feels there is a lot of emotion in color and becomes an excellent pallet for a dynamic party.